System and method for questionnaires and user interactions

ABSTRACT

A questionnaire network in which a mobile device is used by user to create questionnaires and send it to other recipients. The questionnaire is created by user of mobile device using audio inputs for a questionnaire preamble and question preambles. A server in the network incorporates other generic portions of the questionnaire. Thus, a user can make adhoc questionnaires, send them to recipients and receive the results.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of, makes reference to, claimspriority to, and claims benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/807,670 entitled MOBILE DEVICE AND SERVER CAPABLE OF SUPPORTING ADHOCQUESTIONNAIRES (Attorney Docket No. 23043US02) filed on May 30, 2007,the complete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein byreference, in its entirety.

The U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/807,670 makes reference to,claims priority to, and claims benefit of U.S. Provisional ApplicationSer. No. 60/849,715 entitled QUESTIONNAIRE CLIENT FOR MOBILE DEVICE(Attorney Docket No. BRR2006US04) filed on Oct. 4, 2006, the completesubject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, inits entirety. It also makes reference to, claims priority to, and claimsbenefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/850,084 entitledMOBILE DEVICE FOR CREATING ADHOC QUESTIONNAIRE (Attorney Docket No.BRR2006US05) filed on Oct. 7, 2006, the complete subject matter of whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference, in its entirety.

In addition, the present application makes reference to U.S. applicationSer. No. 10/985,702 entitled QUESTIONNAIRE NETWORK FOR MOBILE HANDSETS(Attorney Docket No. BRR2003US03-U1) filed on Nov. 10, 2004, thecomplete subject matter of which is hereby incorporated herein byreference, in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the interactions betweenmobile handset and a server within a carrier network, and morespecifically to the ability to create questionnaires from a mobilehandset, store them in a network, disseminate them and collect results.

2. Related Art

Electronic devices, such as mobile phones and personal digitalassistants (PDA's), often contain small screens with very limitedviewing area. They are constrained in terms of how much information canbe displayed, and in terms of user interaction capabilities. Thekeyboards on cell phones, for example, are not conducive for user dataentry by means of the small keyboard (with multiple letters assigned toeach key), and only brief user inputs can be solicited from a userwithout annoying the user.

Often a user would want to ask his friend which movie, from a selectionof movies currently playing, that they want to see. A user has tocumbersomely call up each of his friends and repeat the same questions,talk about movies currently showing, and ask them which one they wouldwant to see in a group today. The whole process is time consuming,expensive, and requires all his friends to be available for theconversation to be satisfactorily completed. Thus, any attempt by a userto solicit information or feedback from his friends is likely to involvehaving to make several phone calls.

User interactions in real time, such as those provided for a user usinga PC on the Internet, are often not possible for a user using a cellphone. For example, the amount of textual information cannot be a fullpage of textual information that is typically made available on a PC.Graphical information also cannot be large when presented on a cellphone as they typically are on a webpage accessed over a PC. A typicalwebsite provides a rich multi-media experience. The same website, whenaccessed from a cell phone, would be not only unreadable but alsofrustrating. Thus, there is a problem in presenting a user withinformation in order to solicit user input, when the user is using acell phone rather than a PC.

Cell phones are therefore a device for which traditional websites on theInternet are ill prepared to provide information. In addition, surveysor questionnaires that are created for Internet based access via a PCare not appropriate for cell phone access. Asking one or more detailedquestions with information on how to answer them is possible on a webpage that is accessed from a PC. However, the same web page would beunmanageable and difficult to browse and navigate on a cell phone with asmall LCD screen and small keyboard for user input.

Cell phone users often solicit information from other cell phone usersby making phone calls. For example, quite often a user of a mobiledevice (such as a cell phone) would like to determine where his friendswould like to have dinner from among all the nearby restaurants. Theuser may have to call each and every one of his interested friends todetermine their preferences, in order to determine which restaurantwould be the preferred one for the group as a whole. This would take atleast as many calls as the number of interested friends, and would takethe same amount of time for each such call, and incur significant coststo the user. There does not exist an easy way for a user to send aquestionnaires from his mobile device for that purpose, in order tosolicit feedback from his friends using the mobile device.

These and other limitations and deficiencies associated with the relatedart may be more fully appreciated by those skilled in the art aftercomparing such related art with various aspects of the present inventionas set forth herein with reference to the figures.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to apparatus and methods of operationthat are further described in the following Brief Description of theDrawings, the Detailed Description of the Invention, and the claims.Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description of the invention madewith reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective block diagram of a network for mobile devicesthat facilitates creation and dissemination of questionnaires to amobile device, the browsing through the questionnaire by a user on themobile device, and results gathering activities;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary interaction diagram that depicts genericinteractions in the questionnaire network between a QClient in a mobiledevice, a QServer (that includes a management server) and a QCreatorhosted questionnaire (data) population tool that is used to create orassemble questionnaires and surveys;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary user interaction screen provided by the QClientcomponent of the mobile device from FIG. 1 that enables a user of themobile device to review each question and browse through the questionsof the questionnaire;

FIG. 4 is another exemplary screen provided by the QClient component ofthe mobile device from FIG. 1, that enables a user of the mobile deviceto review each question and browse through the questions of thequestionnaire, wherein a generic textual preamble is incorporated into aquestion along with boiler-plate multiple choice selections;

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of FIG. 1 wherein a source mobile device is usedby the user to generate an adhoc questionnaire, without providing anytextual input (such as textual multiple choices) and providing only anaudio content that suffices both as a personalized preamble for aquestion as well as an enumeration of choices;

FIG. 6 is a perspective block diagram of a questionnaire network whereina source mobile device conducts adhoc surveys by sending questionnairesto recipient mobile devices and gets results returned to it immediatelyafter the recipients complete the questionnaires;

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram showing exemplary interaction between asource mobile device and a recipient mobile device wherein the sourcemobile creates an ad-hoc questionnaire that a Qserver enhances byincorporating generic preambles and multiple-choice portions toquestions;

FIG. 8 is a perspective block diagram of a mobile device that is capableof creating questionnaires with audio preambles, uploading them to aserver for dissemination, as well as capable of receiving questionnairesand facilitating the browsing of the downloaded questionnaire by a user;

FIG. 9 is another perspective block diagram of the cellular networkinfrastructure of FIG. 6 for mobile devices that facilitates creationand dissemination of questionnaires from a source mobile device to aplurality of other recipient mobile devices;

FIG. 10 is a perspective block diagram of a network that supports adhocquestionnaire creation by a user of a mobile device that is forwarded torecipient users who respond to the questionnaire, wherein the resultsare routed back to the mobile device;

FIG. 11 is a perspective block diagram of a network wherein an IVR(Interactive Voice Response) component supports playing of audiopreambles for legacy recipient devices that cannot play audio portionsof a questionnaire, such as audio preambles to the individual questions;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary main splash screen for a mobile device thatsupports adhoc creation of questionnaires and browsing through aquestionnaire from the mobile device;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary adhoc questionnaire recording screen that isdisplayed on a mobile device when the Create menu item is activated fromthe screen described in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary adhoc questionnaire recording screen that isdisplayed when the user Stops recording the audio portions, such as anaudio preamble, for a given question while creating a questionnaire, andthe user is provided an opportunity to record a new/next question;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary recipient selection screen provided by a mobiledevice wherein a user is prompted to select one or more recipients thatare to receive the questionnaire currently populated in the previousscreens;

FIG. 16 is a perspective block diagram of a network wherein a sourcemobile device comprises a client plugin for a browser that makes itpossible to create questionnaires in the source mobile device, andwherein the recipient mobile device comprises a client plugin for abrowser that makes it possible to browse through questionnaires in therecipient mobile device;

FIG. 17 is a perspective block diagram of a mobile device that iscapable of creating questionnaires with audio preambles that areuploaded to a server, the mobile device also being capable of receivingquestionnaires and facilitating the perusing of the downloadedquestionnaire by a user;

FIG. 18 is a flow chart of an exemplary operation of a mobile devicebuilt in accordance with the present invention as the mobile device isused by a user to create an adhoc questionnaire;

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing exemplary behavior of the server inaccordance with the present invention as the server supports adhoccreation of a questionnaire using a mobile device; and

FIG. 20 is a perspective block diagram of a mobile device with a browserand a client plugin that is capable of creating questionnaires withaudio preambles that are uploaded to a server, the mobile device alsobeing capable of receiving questionnaires and facilitating the perusingof the downloaded questionnaire by a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective block diagram of a network 105 for mobiledevices that facilitates creation and dissemination of questionnaires toa mobile device 111, the browsing through the questionnaire by a user onthe mobile device 111, and results gathering activities. The network 105supports the notification of the availability of the questionnaire tothe mobile device 111 and the dissemination of questionnaires to themobile device 111. The user interaction is facilitated by a clientcomponent in the mobile device 111 called QClient, which is either madeavailable by the manufacturer of the mobile device or subsequentlydownloaded (such as over the air), or otherwise installed by the user.

The network 105 comprises a mobile device 111 communicatively coupled toa management server called QServer 117 that is typically located withina network 109, such as a carrier network. It also comprises aquestionnaire repository called QStore 115 that is accessible by theQServer 117 and also by a hosted data population component calledQCreator 107, an optional billing system 123 and an optional results andactivity logging database 119.

The hosted Qcreator 107 helps a user of the mobile device 111 createquestionnaires using a user computer 131 and store it in the QStore 115.This stored questionnaire is accessible by the QServer 117 fordissemination. The user of the mobile device 111 can then instruct theQServer 117 to send the saved questionnaire to one or more friends orfamily members via their respective mobile devices or computers. Forexample, the user can provide a list of phone numbers corresponding tothe mobile devices used by the friends and family members with whom theuser intends to share the stored questionnaire. The results from eachfriend or family member, as they respond to the questionnaire (i.e. asthey answers questions in a questionnaire) is gathered, collated andsubsequently presented to the mobile device 111 of the questionnairesender by the QServer 117. The user creating the questionnaire canspecify an optional “max wait time” for the questionnaire that will beused to determine how long the QServer should wait before reporting thecollated results to the questioner sender, in this use-case, the user ofthe mobile device 111. In one related embodiment, results are notcollated—instead they are reported immediately after the questionnaireis completed by any recipient/user.

The hosted QCreator 107 provides a simple questionnaire hosted component(SQH) that is easily usable by any user, such as teenagers. For example,a teenager who wants to invite his friends to a movie could just createa question preamble in audio/voice that comprises user's enumeration ofmovie choices, and the hosted QCreator 107 automatically insertsreference indices or sequence numbers to facilitate selection of one ormore choices from a recipient user. on his mobile device Thus a mobilerecipient user's selection options such as a sequence of(multiple-choice) A, B, C, D as choices, or a sequence of numbers 1, 2,3 and 4 is provided automatically for display to a recipient user duringan appropriate part of segment of the questionnaire. Thus, themultiple-choice provided automatically is displayed while the audiopreamble of a question in a questionnaire is rendered/played on themobile device of the recipient user with no extra text needed fordescribing the actual choices which are incorporated into the audiopreamble by the user creating the question, that provides detailsassociated with these indices or multiple-choice sequences.

Adhoc questionnaire creation is facilitated by the hosted creator 107.The adhoc questionnaire would be a form of a questionnaire with only onequestion. It is possible to create adhoc questionnaires with more thanone question too. However, most adhoc questionnaires are likely to beone question at a time. For example, a user using the hosted QCreatorcomponent 107 (which is hosted along with the Qserver 117 or provided aspart of the QServer 117) for adhoc question creation could vocalize(speak) an audio preamble to a question (recording being facilitated bya dialog box with Start and Stop buttons): “Guys, for tonight's movie,the choices are A) Jaws, B) KingKong C) Room with a View. Please Pickone”. The user could optionally type in a textual preamble on anappropriate webpage provided by the QServer 117. The textual preambleprovided would be in addition to the audio preamble of the question thatis recorded. Recording can be in the form of AMR, MP3, WMA or otherpopular formats. The user could also provide a list of recipients usingan appropriate webpage provided by the QServer 117. Thus, when the adhocquestionnaire is sent to a recipient, the recipient would get thiscustomized audio preamble, see a user provided personalized textualprompt (called preamble for the question) or just a generic textpreamble (i.e if the user has not provided a prompt/preamble), and get amultiple-choice enumeration of A, B, C to chose from.

In one embodiment, the hosted QCreator component 107 is incorporatedinto the QServer 117 and the user, employing the mobile device 111(source mobile device) interacts with the Qserver 117 to create aquestionnaire. The user intending to create a questionnaire using themobile device 111, such as an adhoc questionnaire, accesses the websiteassociated with (or part of) the QServer 117, and populates aquestionnaire. For example, the user provides an audio input for aquestionnaire preamble, audio preamble for each question in thequestionnaire, and textual content for each question, such as textualprompts that are stored as textual preambles for the correspondingquestion. The user does not provide any multiple-choices for a recipientto select from, as the multiple-choices are incorporated into the audiopreamble (provided by user as part of the audio preamble for theassociated question). The QServer 107 then incorporates themultiple-choices from a generic set of multiple choices for eachquestion in the questionnaire. For example, the generic set of choicescan be 1, 2, 3, 4, or A, D, G, J (the first characters of the keyscorresponding to the typical mobile keyboard with numbers 2, 3, 4 and 5on the face plate), etc. The questionnaire with the automaticallyincorporated multiple-choice textual content for each question is savedfor future use per user instruction, or forwarded to a list ofrecipients provided by the user. Individual recipients can answer thequestionnaire at their convenience, and the QServer 117 facilitates theinteraction with the mobile devices (or other types of devices such ascomputers) of each recipient in completing the questionnaire by therecipients from their respective mobile devices. Results are collated bythe QServer 117 and forwarded if the user so prefers it. Otherwise,individual results from each recipient's device, when the associatedrecipient has completed the questionnaire, are communicated back to themobile device 111 (the source mobile device) one at a time.

In one embodiment, the questionnaire preamble is not created by the userpopulating the questionnaire using the QCreator 107, only the questionpreamble is created. Thus, each question comprises a question preambleprovided by the user. When a recipient gets the questionnaire on hismobile device, the questions themselves are provided to the recipient,starting with the first one, without the preamble of the questionnaire.Thus, in the beginning of the questionnaire, the recipient would viewthe first question (or just the multiple-choices for it) and would beable (for example, by activating the Info menu item) to hear the audiopreamble for the first question. The recipient selects one of thechoices presented, using the selection button (often the singlescrolling/selection button) or a joystick button (5-way joystick buttonsare common on mobile devices). The recipient can also select by usingthe keyboard, such as entering one of the keys A, D, G, or J, (say, byselecting D). In a related embodiment, the choices presented to user are2, 3, 4, 5 (corresponding to adjacent keys on a typical mobile phonekeyboard) and the user selects one of the numeric keys 2, 3, 4 or 5, onthe recipient mobile device keyboard, before activating the Next menuitem to proceed to the next question, if any.

In one embodiment, the user accesses the website of QServer 117 usingthe mobile device 111 in order to create a questionnaire comprisingmultiple questions or a single question. In another, he accesses thewebsite associated with the QServer 117 employing the user computer 131in order to create the questionnaire (or a single question). In both thecases, the user is able to specify who the recipients should be for thequestionnaire.

Typically, recipients for questionnaires are specified by the user ofthe mobile device 111 (used to create a questionnaire) in one of severalways—by picking one or more recipients from a contact list in the mobiledevice, by identifying a pre-configured mailing list on the mobiledevice, by identifying a preconfigured list of phone numbers on themobile device, etc.

While using the user computer/device 131 to create a questionnaire, theuser can assign the questionnaire to a pre-configured list of recipientspreviously stored at the QStore 115.

In one embodiment, the network's 109 monthly billing system 123, thatbills users for landline phone subscriptions or wireless services, isalso used as a means to provide incentive payments, discounts or rewardsto users for completing questionnaires or surveys. It is also used tooptionally charge a user for services rendered in creatingquestionnaires. It can also be used to provide a user a discount onmonthly charges for answering a questionnaire. For example, the user'smonthly phone bill would discount the monthly payment for the user by$5.00 (or some such amount) for every questionnaire completed by a userof the mobile device 111. In addition, for users who createquestionnaires on their mobile devices 111, the billing system chargesthem a fee for creating questionnaires and distributing them to aplurality of users.

In one embodiment, when a user creates a questionnaire and uploads itfor sending it to other users (such as his friends or customers)charging can be conducted at a flat rate or based on the number of usersto whom the questionnaire is communicated. Other charging models arealso contemplated. For example, in one charging model, a user sending aquestionnaire is charged a certain questionnaire creation fee (such as20 cents) per questionnaire and each of the recipients who receive thequestionnaire are charged a further questionnaire receiving fee (such as20 cents each). In a related model, the sender is charged for eachrecipient to whom the questionnaire is sent, while the recipientsresponding to the questionnaire are not charged any fee.

In one embodiment, the Qserver 117 makes it possible to manage thelifecycle of individual questionnaires and the user accounts setup byregistered users of a questionnaire creation and distribution service.The QServerv117 behaves as a questionnaire management server with thecapability of creating, distributing, deleting, archiving and loggingquestionnaires, questionnaire access activities, etc.

The network 105 for mobile devices facilitates creation anddissemination of audio-assisted questionnaires, wherein parts of thequestionnaire are presented to a recipient in audio form, so as tominimize the amount of text the recipient has to read in a small screenof a limited device, so as to make it easy for the recipient to listento preambles, supplementary information, etc. in audible form (humanvoices for the most part), and also to make questionnaire display andreview an easy activity that does not require use of a keyboard at allin most instances, and reduces/eliminates the use of keys (for scrollingor for answering the questionnaire) on a mobile device to a largeextent.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary interaction diagram that depicts genericinteractions in the questionnaire network 205 between a QClient 207 in amobile device, a QServer 209 (that includes a management server) and aQCreator hosted questionnaire (data) population tool 211 that is used tocreate or assemble questionnaires and surveys. Typically, aquestionnaire is created using the QCreator hosted questionnaire (data)population tool 211 and deposited into a repository QStore associatedwith the Qserver 209. The questionnaire is then made available for useraccess (such as by publishing the questionnaire, changing a stateassociated with the questionnaire, or otherwise managing it, via amanagement console). After populating a questionnaire during itscreation, the QCreator 211 also facilitates the specification of a listof recipients, that is also communicated to and stored in the QServer209. The QServer 209 translates the list if recipients into useabledata, such as phone numbers or IP addresses, as required.

A push notification is sent to a user by the QServer 209, such as bymeans of an SMS message, an Instant message, an email, etc.User-initiated questionnaire startup is also possible, wherein the user,using his mobile device (with QClient 207) initiates the download anddisplay of a questionnaire from the QServer 209. When a user with themobile device that receives a push notification uses the QClient 207 tostart the questionnaire, the QClient employs the known (orpreconfigured) address of the QServer to interact with it. If a sessionwith the QServer is already open, the QClient 207 continues to use it.In one embodiment, the push notification is over SMS and the SMS client(or some other client side software, such as a WAP stack, an HHTP stack,etc.) in the mobile device determines that the notification is targetedtowards the QClient 207 and passes the received notification to theQClient 207 for processing. The notification provides information of thequestionnaire to be downloaded and/or displayed by the QClient 207. In arelated embodiment, the QClient 207 itself is capable of receiving pushnotification and subsequently initiating the browsing of thequestionnaire in the mobile device.

When a questionnaire is initiated for display on a mobile device by theQClient 207, an audio preamble is played, if necessary, on the mobiledevice 111 (of FIG. 1, using an audio circuitry and/or audio player,such as an MP3 player, etc.). A Questionnaire may have an audiopreamble, and a textual preamble. Each question in a questionnaire mayalso have an audio preamble, and a textual preamble. Typically, when aquestion is displayed, at least two buttons (or menu items, sometimesmore than 2) are also displayed in the bottom of the screen, one an‘Info’ button (or menu item) and another a ‘Next’ button or menu item.When the last question is displayed, the ‘Next’ button or menu item isreplaced by a ‘Done’ button or menu item. ‘Done’ would indicate that thequestionnaire was completed and the results gathered by the client iscommunicated to the QServer 117 (of FIG. 1, which may be in carriernetwork or outside it), which in turn interacts with a billing server,etc. as needed.

Towards the end of the questionnaire, when all the questions have beenanswered, the results are sent by the QClient 207 in the mobile device111 to the QServer 209, where they are collated by the QServer 209 andthe results are optionally sent to the QCreator tool 211 associated withthe questionnaire for retrieval by a user (creator of thequestionnaire). Alternatively, the results are sent to the mobiledevice, such as mobile device 111 that may have initiated thequestionnaire creation and/or dissemination. It is also possible for theQServer 209 to be configured in such a way that it retains the resultsuntil a consumer of the results subsequently retrieves it.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary user interaction screen provided by the QClientcomponent of the mobile device 111 from FIG. 1 that enables a user ofthe mobile device 307 to review each question and browse through thequestions of the questionnaire. In particular, the user has to only usethe joystick 335 on the mobile device for selecting an item from amultiple choice provided in any question. The UI screen of the mobiledevice 307 displays a display frame 309 that is used to display onequestion at a time for the user. The display frame 309 (which is adialog box, an IFrame, or a window pane of some sort) is typically usedto display the current question (one question at a time), with theoption to play the audio preamble of the question by activating the Infomenu item (or soft key) 313 (may be an Info button on the keyboardalternatively). It display frame 309 is also used for selecting one ormore entries of the multiple-choices presented using the keyboard 333 ofthe mobile device 307, the joystick 335 or a pen-based input means (notshown), and advancing to the next question in the questionnaire byactivating the Next menu item 311 (may be a Next button alternatively).The display frame 309 on the screen is presented and managed by theQClient. It also comprises a personalized textual preamble 317 that isdisplayed on the top of the multiple-choices of a question thatpresented to the user. The personalized textual preamble for eachquestion is typically created by a user while using the QCreator forcreating/assembling the questionnaire.

The network 105 supports a simple questionnaire hosted (SQH) solutionwherein a user employs the hosted QCreator 107 to create a questionnairefor subsequent dissemination. Each user (such as a teenager who wants toinvite his friends to a movie) could just create a preamble in voice anda simple textual question using the hosted QCreator 107. The questionswould be displayed as illustrated. The user would not have to enter thetextual multiple-choice that are typically presented to a recipient (ifthe user does not want to) to keep the user experience during thecreation process simple. The hosted QCreator 107 automatically insertsA, B, C, D as textual multiple choices in a question provided by theuser —no descriptive text for the multiple-choices need be provided, asthe audio preamble “created” by the user during the creation of eachquestion can provide information on the possible choices, in audio formas part of the preamble. For example, while populating a question usingthe hosted QCreator 107, the user could just say: “Guys, for tonight'smovie, choices are A) Jaws, B) KingKong C) Room with a view. Please pickone.” Thus, the description of the multiple choices are incorporated bya user in the audio preamble, thereby making it unnecessary for textualdescription to repeat those choices. Therefore, a boilerplate set ofmultiple choice text such as A, B, C and D, wherein they are selectable,can be presented. Personalized textual question/prompt for each questioncan also be provided by user while creating the questionnaire. The userwould also provide list of recipients on an appropriate hosted webpageprovided by the hosted QCreator 107. A recipient browsing through thequestionnaire would get this customized audio preamble, see customizedtext preamble, and get a multiple choice (boiler plate) A, B, C to chosefrom, that are shown in the question frame 309.

FIG. 4 is another exemplary screen provided by the QClient component ofthe mobile device 111 from FIG. 1, that enables a user of the mobiledevice 433 to review each question and browse through the questions ofthe questionnaire, wherein a generic textual preamble is incorporatedinto a question along with boiler-plate multiple choice selections. Arecipient would get a question as shown in the question frame 459 of thescreen 457, the question typically comprising a customized audiopreamble played when the recipient activates the Info menu item, ageneric text preamble 467, and a generic multiple-choice 465 with choiceA, B, C (or some other choices such as 1, 2, 3, etc.) to chose from. Akeyboard 433 is also illustrated that comprises a joystick/selectionbutton 471. An end user recipient does not have to use any other buttonother than the selection buttons 473 (that manipulates the softkey 463),475 (that manipulates the softkey 461) and the joystick 471. This makesfor a great user experience, by limiting user navigation (userinteraction) needs and eliminating keyboard usage for textual data entryor screen manipulation.

The hosted QCreator 107 is used to create the questionnaire thatcomprises such content (questionnaires, adhoc questionnaires,audio-assisted content, etc) with incorporation of generic questionpreambles and generic multiple-choice selections into a personalizedpreamble for each question. For example, a user using the hostedQCreator 107 (such as a teenager who wants to invite his friends to amovie) could just create a preamble with voice (audio) inputs thatcomprises multiple choices presented in the audio too, and the QCreatorautomatically inserts textual choices (such as A, B, C, D) in aquestion. There is no text entered or needed for multiple choices as theuser's audio preamble (that is recorded/entered by user) providesinformation on available choices too. Thus, user could just say: “Guys,for tonight's movie, choices are a) Jaws, B) KingKong C) Room with aView. Pick one”. The user would also provide list of recipients on ahosted webpage of the hosted QCreator 107. The textual preamble 367 is ageneric one inserted by hosted QCreator 107.

FIG. 5 is an embodiment of FIG. 1 wherein a source mobile device 511 isused by the user to generate an adhoc questionnaire, without providingany textual input (such as textual multiple choices) and providing onlyan audio content that suffices both as a personalized preamble for aquestion as well as an enumeration of choices. The source mobile device511 comprises a client component, called QClient, that makes it possibleto capture audio preambles for the questionnaires. The user of thesource mobile device 511 specifies one or more recipient device, such asrecipient mobile device 523, as the target devices to which thequestionnaire created by the user should be forwarded or otherwisecommunicated, and responses sought from. The recipient mobile device 511also comprises a QClient component that makes it possible to browsethrough the questions in the questionnaire disseminated to it, onequestion at a time, playing the audio preambles for the questions whenactivated by the recipient, and capturing responses to the questionsprovided by the recipient.

The network 509, such as a carrier network, is capable of processing thereceived audio portion of the questionnaire (or a single question) andincorporating into it a pre-configured (configured by user) textualpreamble and set of abbreviated choices. The carrier network 509 istherefore capable of incorporating into the questions a generic textualprompt along with selectable choices, thus enhancing audio preamblesprovided by the user creating the questionnaire employing the sourcemobile device 511. Specifically, the user employs the QClient in thesource mobile device 511 to record the audio preambles of one or morequestions. These audio preambles not only provide a brief information onthe topic of concern (for a current question) but also the audioenumeration of the choices possible. The choices provided by the user inaudio form are preferably accompanied by index numbers or referencesequence indicators. The textual component that is generically providedby the QServer 517 comprise of a generic textual preamble and the indexnumbers or reference sequence indicators (such as for themultiple-choices).

The completely assembled version of the user's questionnaires (that maycomprise of multiple questions or a single question) provided by theuser is then stored by the QServer 517. A notification of the existenceof the questionnaire is sent to the recipients indicated by the user.The list of recipients or a reference to a pre-configured mailing list,or pre-configured list of phone numbers, is retrieved by the QServer 517if the QClient in the source mobile device 511 does not provide one withthe questionnaire. Using such a list of phone numbers or list ofrecipients, the QServer 517 forwards notifications to the recipientmobile device of the designated recipients. Subsequently when therecipients start the questionnaire, the Qserver 517 provides them withthe content of the questionnaire, in sets of N questions at a time,where N is a configurable number.

In one embodiment, the network 509, in which a source mobile device 511is used by a user to create questionnaires, is also capable of sendingthe questionnaire to the recipients, i.e. target users specified. Thequestionnaire is created by user of source mobile device 511 using audioinputs for a questionnaire preamble. The QServer 517 in the network 509incorporates other generic portions of the questionnaire, with the helpof the QCreator 507, if needed. Thus, a user of the source mobile device511 can make adhoc questionnaires, send them to recipients (on recipientmobile devices, such as recipient mobile device 523) and receive theresults. This makes it easy for a user to create, disseminate, conductquestionnaires or surveys on mobile handsets and to collect results forprocessing and storage. The Qserver 517 collates responses from one ormore recipients and reports it back to the sender of the questionnaire,such as a user of a source mobile device 511 who might have created andsent a questionnaire to recipients.

In one embodiment, the QServer 517 is external to the network 509 and iscommunicatively coupled to the source mobile device 511 and therecipient mobile device 523. It also incorporates a version of theQCreator 507 and a version of the QStore 515.

In one embodiment, the QServer 517, the hosted QCreator 507 and theQStore 515 are all external to the carrier network 509 and the QServer517 is communicatively coupled to the hosted QCreator 507 and the QStore515. It is also communicatively coupled to the source mobile device 511and the recipient mobile device 523.

A management interface 521 communicatively coupled to the QStore 515makes it possible to an administrator to manage the configuration of theQStore 515, the configuration of the QServer 517, etc. It alsofacilitates deleting questionnaires, surveys, etc. after they have beendisseminated to recipients, deleting them after a period of usage hasexpired, assigning user groups to specific questionnaires and surveys,etc. Typically, the user who has the rights to create questionnairesusing the hosted questionnaire creator 507 also have the rights tomanage it using the management interface 521. In one related embodiment,the hosted questionnaire creator 507 is combined with the managementinterface 521, and the user can not only create but also manage thequestionnaires (life cycle management is supported) using the samewebsite/portal.

FIG. 6 is a perspective block diagram of a questionnaire network 605wherein a source mobile device 657 conducts adhoc surveys by sendingquestionnaires to recipient mobile devices 671 and 673, and gets resultsreturned to it immediately after the recipients complete thequestionnaires. Each of the recipient mobile devices 671, 673 compriseat least a portion of the QClient component that supports browsingthrough the questionnaire one question at a time, and answering eachquestion. The source mobile device 657 comprises at least a portion ofthe QClient component that supports the creation of at least a portionof a questionnaire locally in the source mobile device 657 and thecommunication of the created at least a portion of a questionnaire to aQServer 659 over a network 665 for completion of any parts of thequestionnaire that might be missing or have a placeholder, and forstorage. Thus, the source mobile device 657 and the recipient mobiledevices 671 and 673 each comprise at least a portion of the QClient (thenecessary components), though not necessarily the same portion. Thus, ingeneral, the QClient software not only supports questionnaire creation(such as adhoc questionnaires) but also browsing through receivedquestionnaires (that may have been created using a PC, using a mobiledevice or a hosted Questionnaire creation server).

The network 665 is a wireless and/or wired network, cellular networksuch as 3G, UMTS, CMDA, GSM, etc., a WLAN network, or a WiMAX network,Internet, Bluetooth, IrDA, etc. The network 665 provides connectivitybetween the source mobile devices, the recipient mobile devices, theserver Qserver 659 used to manage the questionnaires, and theserver/component QCreator 675 used to create questionnaires (remotely).

The QServer 659 is responsible for disseminating questionnaires to therecipient mobile devices 671, 673. To do so, it primarily interacts withthe QClient's in the recipient mobile devices 671, 673. It is alsoresponsible for receiving completed questionnaires from the hostedQCreator systems 675. It receives partially created questionnaires (withaudio portions such as preambles provided and minimal or no textualcontent) from QClient's of the source mobile devices 657, processesthem, sends them to the QCreator 675 for incorporation of genericpreambles and generic multiple-choice portions where needed, and storesthe updated questionnaires (if necessary). It also distributes theupdated questionnaires (updated with boiler plate/generic textualpreambles and multiple choice portions) to the recipient mobile devices671, 673 based on pre-configured list of recipients (that may be storedin the QServer 659, for example) or based on a target list of recipientsprovided by the source mobile device 657. It is capable of converting alist of recipients provided by the source mobile device 657 into a listof phone numbers of the recipient mobile devices, a list of IP addressesof the recipient mobile devices, etc.

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram showing exemplary interaction between asource mobile device 707 (657 of FIG. 6) and a recipient mobile device715 (671 of FIG. 6) wherein the source mobile 657 creates an ad-hocquestionnaire that a Qserver 709 (659 of FIG. 6) enhances byincorporating generic preambles and multiple-choice portions toquestions. The mobile devices 657 and 671 comprise the QClient componentthat facilitates creation of questionnaires and browsing through anyquestionnaires received. The user of the source mobile device 657initially sends audio portions of questions and a list of recipients tothe QServer 659. The QServer 659 then forwards the audio portion(s) to aQCreator 711 (675 of FIG. 6) to get the questionnaire populated andgeneric textual content and generic multiple choices (canned choices)inserted for the questions in the questionnaire. The QCreator 711 alsoinserts a generic questionnaire preamble, in audio form and/or textualform, if necessary. The QServer 659 receives the updated questionnairefrom the QCreator 675 and stores it if needed (temporarily orpermanently).

Then, the QServer 659 sends a push notification to the recipient devicessuch as recipient mobile device 671. In response, the QClient in therecipient mobile device 671 initiates the browsing of the questionnairestarting with the first question. The QServer 659 sends the firstsegment of the questionnaire, which may comprise of a set of questions,to the recipient mobile device 671. When the recipient answers thequestions of the first segment and the QClient in the recipient mobiledevice 671 retrieves the next segment, if any. In addition, for anyquestion, the recipient has the option to retrieve supplementaryinformation, which may be provided as audio supplementary information,textual supplementary information or a combination of both. Providingvideo supplementary information, graphics, streaming audio or MPEG 4content are also contemplated.

When the recipient has completed the questionnaire on the recipientmobile device 671, the results are sent to the QServer 659, whichcollates all such results and finally communicates the results to thesource mobile device 657.

In one embodiment, when each segment of the questionnaire is completed,the QClient component in the source mobile device 657 sends the partialresponses received to the QServer 659. In a different embodiment, theQServer sends the entire questionnaire to the QClient of the recipientmobile device 671, in one chunk, rather than send one segment at a time.

FIG. 8 is a perspective block diagram of a mobile device 811 that iscapable of creating questionnaires with audio preambles, uploading themto a server for dissemination, as well as capable of receivingquestionnaires and facilitating the browsing of the downloadedquestionnaire by a user. The mobile device 811 comprises a recordingcircuitry 815, player circuitry 817, communication circuitry 823,processing circuitry 821, and storage 825. The mobile device alsocomprises a client component 813 for questionnaires, called QClient 813that employs the recording circuitry to record audio preambles forquestionnaires when the user is creating a questionnaire, and a playercircuitry 817 to play audio preambles in questionnaires while the useris responding to questionnaires received. The mobile device 811 iscommunicatively coupled to a remote server called Qserver using thecommunication circuitry 823.

The Qclient 813 comprises an audio capture component 831, a downloadingcomponent 829, an uploading component 827 and a questionnaire displayand browsing component 819. The audio capture component 831 employs therecording circuitry 815 for recording voice—typically used in questionpreambles and questionnaire preambles. The downloading component 829 isused to download questionnaires from the Qserver. The uploadingcomponent 827 employs the communication circuitry 823 to uploadquestionnaires (or partial questionnaires) created in the mobile device811. The questionnaire display and browsing component 819 makes itpossible to display (for interaction by a user) a downloadedquestionnaire to which a user can provide responses afterreading/browsing using the QClient 813.

The recording circuitry 815 facilitates the recording of an audioportion of a questionnaire when activated. Questionnaires arecommunicated to a Qserver (when the questionnaire is ready and userinitiates an upload) along with a recipient list that is stored in thestorage 825. The processing circuitry 821 facilitates the communication,of questionnaires created or responses to questionnaires received, usingthe communication circuitry 823. The questionnaires created arecommunicated to the Qserver for forwarding the questionnaire to usersassociated with the recipient list. The QClient 813 comprises thequestionnaire display & browsing component 819 that makes it possiblefor a user to browse through all the questions of a questionnaire, onequestion at a time, with support for playing audio preambles, if needed,and displaying supplementary text information or playing supplementaryaudio information, when requested by user.

In one embodiment, the recording circuitry 815 is capable of recordingnot only audio but video information too, such as in MPEG 4 formats. Theplayer circuitry is capable of playing audio information (audiopreambles) but also video content associated with the preamble of aquestion of a questionnaire.

FIG. 9 is another perspective block diagram of the cellular networkinfrastructure of FIG. 6 for mobile devices that facilitates creationand dissemination of questionnaires from a source mobile device 907 to aplurality of other recipient mobile devices 911, 913. The source mobiledevice 907 captures questions (in audio form) from a user and sends itto a server 909 to convert it into a complete questionnaire that is sentto designated recipients. The recipients use their respective recipientmobile devices 911, 913 for browsing through the questionnaire when theyreceive it. The server 909 receives the results from the recipientdevices 911, 913 and forwards them to the source mobile device 907.

The server 909 is capable of converting recipient list to a list ofphone numbers or IP addresses as needed, in order to communicate thequestionnaires, or a notification regarding the questionnaire, to therecipient mobile devices 911, 913. The server 909 is capable ofcompleting the incomplete questionnaires received from the source mobiledevice 907. For example, the source mobile device 907 may send anincomplete questionnaire with two questions, each with only the audiopreamble created (by a user recording the questions in audio form thatincorporates a brief descriptions of available choices) and the server909 incorporates a generic textual preamble and a generic set ofmultiple choices for each question in order to complete thequestionnaire. For example, if the user creating the questionnaire onthe source mobile device 907 provided two questions such as “Which moviedo you want to go? a) Jaws b) Sideways c) Room with a view” and “Wheredo you want to eat after the movie? a) Freds, b) Baja Fresh c) ThatThis”, then the server 909 would incorporate into the received“partially complete” questionnaire a generic textual preamble (alsocalled prompt sometimes), such as “Select one of the following:”, and ageneric multiple choice set, such as “>A, >B, >C”, for each questionreceived in the questionnaire.

The server 909 receives audio question from a user, incorporatesmultiple-choice text, and generic prompt to user, and sendsquestionnaire to recipients. The recipients are either specified by theuser along with the questionnaire or pre-configured and stored in theserver 909 to be used to forward questionnaires. It then receivesresponses, and sends them to source mobile device 907. Responses areeither sent individually as they are received or collated and sent inone set back to the source mobile device 907. Additionally, it ispossible to configure the server 909 to save the responses until theyare retrieved by the source mobile device 907.

The recipient mobile device 911, 913 receives question/questionnaire,lets the recipient user browse through each question and answer them(i.e. respond to them), and sends results to server 909. Results may becommunicated to the server at the end of the questionnaire or at the endof each segment of the questionnaire (where the questionnaire issegmented into multiple sets of N questions each, where N could be anumber such as 5, or even a 1 in the degenerate case).

The server 909 also supports the notification of the availability of thequestionnaire and the dissemination of questionnaires to the mobiledevice 911. The user interaction is facilitated by a client component inthe mobile device 911, which is either made available by themanufacturer of the mobile handsets or subsequently downloaded over theair, or otherwise installed by the user. The client component is able toprocess the received questionnaire (or portions thereof), playing audioportions such as audio preambles, audio supplementary information, etc.and displaying textual preambles and textual multiple-choice sets.

In one embodiment, the network 905 comprises mobile devices 907, 911,913 which are a devices such as of cellular phones, PDAs, convergeddevices, etc. and the network is 915 is a wireless and/or wired network,cellular network such as 3G, UMTS, CMDA, GSM, etc., a WLAN network, or aWiMAX network, Internet, Bluetooth, IrDA, etc.

FIG. 10 is a perspective block diagram of a network 1005 that supportsadhoc questionnaire creation by a user of a mobile device that isforwarded to recipient users who respond to the questionnaire, whereinthe results are routed back to the mobile device. The networkinfrastructure 1005, such as a cellular network infrastructure, a WiMAXinfrastructure, etc. comprises a source mobile device 1011 that a useruses to create adhoc questionnaires, a server 1017 that receives thequestionnaires and sends them to one or more recipient mobile devices1027, a questionnaire creation component 1007 that facilitatesquestionnaire creation using a remote computer (not shown) or via theserver 1017, a storage 1015 that is used to store questionnaires ifnecessary, and a results and activity logging component 1019 that can beused to track questionnaire creation, questionnaire answering, and otherrelated activities. The cellular network infrastructure 1005 alsocomprises a billing system 1023 that can facilitate billing for thecreation of questionnaires, the distribution of questionnaires, etc.

Adhoc questionnaire creation, such as creation of a single questiontypically, is also supported in the source mobile device 1011. Thesource mobile device comprises a client that supports questionnairecreation (even a partial questionnaire that can later be completed bythe server 1017). A user with the client in the source mobile device1011 creates an ad-hoc question/questionnaire on the fly, that typicallycomprises of only a question captured in audio form, and sends the audioquestion to specific recipients or to a pre-configured recipient list ormailing-list. The user then receives responses (such as one of amultiple-choice A, B, C or D for each question) from one or morerecipients on the source mobile device 1011.

In one embodiment, the user of the source mobile device 1011 does thefollowing to create an adhoc questionnaire and receive results: a)Activates recording on source mobile device 1011 (such as activating arecord button on the source mobile device 1011, activating a differentbutton, or even a displayed menu item); b) User speaks into sourcemobile device 1011 in order to record a question (captured as a questionpreamble); c) User stops recording a question; d) User records audiocomponent for additional questions if needed, repeating steps a) throughc); e) User terminates audio inputs for adhoc questionnaire; d) Userprovide recipient list (a single phone number, a list of phone numbers,a list of contacts from the contact list, a preconfigured recipientlist, or a mailing list); and f) User waits for responses and reviews itwhen received.

The source mobile device 1011 (i.e. the client) would do therest—formulating question based on audio input (which is called Questionpreamble). Then source mobile device 211 ships the questionnaire toserver 1017 with a recipient list. Server 1017 farms out question torecipients, receives responses (from one or more recipients) andforwards the responses/result to the user on the source mobile device1011.

In one embodiment, questionnaire creation component 1007 is a hostedserver that can be used by the source mobile device 1011 to createquestionnaires. In a related embodiment, the questionnaire creationcomponent 1007 is part of the server 1017 and provides questionnairecreation logic useful for the completion of a partially assembledquestionnaire sent by the source mobile device 1011. For example, if thesource mobile device 1011 sends a questionnaire with only audiopreambles recorded using the source mobile device 1011, thequestionnaire creation component 1007 is used by the server 1017 toincorporate a generic question preamble, a generic multiple-choice set,etc. into each question of the partially complete questionnaire. In adifferent embodiment, the questionnaire creation component 1007 is partof (incorporated into) the server 1017.

In one embodiment, the questionnaire preamble is not created by the userpopulating the questionnaire. The questionnaire creation component 1007does not add a questionnaire preamble, instead it adds textualquestionnaire preamble to each question. Each question comprises atextual question preamble incorporated automatically by thequestionnaire creation component 1007. Other components of aquestionnaire, such as supplementary information, graphic images, etc.are also selectively incorporated by the questionnaire creationcomponent 1007 when they are missing from a questionnaire communicatedby the source mobile device 1011.

When a recipient using the recipient mobile device 1027 gets thequestionnaire on his recipient mobile device 1027, the questionsthemselves are provided to the recipient by the server 1017, startingwith the first one, without the preamble of the questionnaire if it doesnot exist. Thus, in the beginning of the questionnaire, the recipientwould view the first question (or just the multiple-choices for it) andwould be able activate an Info menu item to hear the audio preamble forthe first question. The recipient selects one of the automaticallyincorporated multiple-choices presented, using a joystick for selectionof a choice, or using a selection button or softkey. For example, amultiple choice of A, B, C or D is presented to the user for thequestion, and the user selects one of them using the joystick/selectionmechanism (after scrolling to the right choice using the joystick, forexample). In a related embodiment, the recipient selects one of theautomatically incorporated multiple-choices presented, such as A, D, G,or J, say, by selecting D on the keyboard. In another relatedembodiment, the choices presented to user are 2, 3, 4, 5 (correspondingto adjacent keys on a typical mobile phone keyboard) and the userselects one of them on the recipient mobile device keyboard, beforeactivating the Next menu item to proceed to the next question, if any.

In one embodiment, the recipient device is a legacy device 1027 and notcapable of letting a recipient user work through the questionnaires. Forsuch a device, the server 1017 sends a voice mail notification to therecipient device 1027 and when triggered by the recipient device 1027,causes the audio preamble of the questions to be played as voice mail,such as those that employ interactive voice response (IVR) system 1031.The user is provided with the option to select from the generic set ofmultiple choices (1, 2 3 or 4) and the user selections are noted throughthe IVR system 1031. Thus, part of the questionnaire, the audio preamblewith references to the choices available, is played as part of a voicemail and the recipient's choices are recorded by means of IVR and thecollated results are forwarded to the user of the source mobile device1011. Such a solution wherein IVR is used makes it possible toincorporate “legacy” devices and land line devices into the network 1005and have them participate in receiving questionnaires and responding tothem. The server 1017 thus employs the services of an IVR system 1031 toprovide questionnaires to recipients on legacy devices (and otherdevices that do not have an appropriate client software installed) inorder to solicit user responses to the questions in the questionnaire.Such responses received via the IVR system 1031 are also collated andresults are sent to the source mobile device 1011.

In one embodiment, the source device is a legacy device 1011 (such as alandline telephone or older model of mobile devices) and not capable ofletting a recipient user create questionnaire by recording questions inthe source device 1011. For such a legacy device, the server 1017supports recording questions by providing an interface to an IVR system1031 that guides the user of the legacy device 1011 to create aquestionnaire. The IVR system 1031 is responsible for providing tones,voice prompts, recording and DTMF recognition to the network 1009,especially for questionnaire services accessed by a user using thesource mobile device 1011 and the recipient mobile device 1027. Theserver 1017 then sends a voice mail notification (or any other type ofnotifications such as SMS, etc.) to the recipient device 1027 and whentriggered by the recipient device 1027, causes the audio preamble of thequestions to be played as voice mail, such as those that employinteractive voice response (IVR) systems 1031. On the other hand, if therecipient devices 1027 are capable of listening to audio preambles of aquestionnaire, then the questionnaire is sent with audio preambles.

In one embodiment, the server 1017 is capable of determining if thesource mobile device 1011 requires the support of an IVR server 1031(IVR functionality support, in general). If it determines that it does,then it makes the IVR server 1031 available for the source mobile device1011 to record portions of the questions during questionnaire creation.Similarly, the server 1017 is capable of determining if the recipientmobile device 1027 requires the support of an IVR server 1031 to respondto the questionnaire. If it determines that it does, then it makes theIVR server 1031 available for the recipient mobile device 1011 to playportions of the questions and to solicit input (responses) from theuser. The server 1017 then forwards the responses to the source mobiledevice 1011. The server 1017 is also capable of receiving audiopreambles from the source mobile device 1011 (from those that can recordaudio preambles of questions) and communicating it to the IVR server1031, if necessary, such as when a legacy recipient device 1027 needssupport to enable the user to listen to the audio portions and respondto the questions of a questionnaire. Although the IVR server 1031 isshown to be external to the network 1009, and communicatively coupled tothe server 1017, it should be understood that this is just oneembodiment, and other embodiments wherein the IVR server 1031 is withinthe network 100, or combined with the server 1017, are alsocontemplated.

FIG. 11 is a perspective block diagram of a network 1169 wherein an IVR(Interactive Voice Response) component 1179 supports playing of audiopreambles for legacy recipient devices 1181 that cannot play audioportions of a questionnaire, such as audio preambles to the individualquestions. The network 1169 comprises the source mobile device 1161 thatis capable of creating questionnaires without help from the IVRcomponent 1179 and the recipient mobile device 1177 that can be used bya recipient to respond to the questionnaires without the help of the IVRcomponent 1179. The network 1169 also comprises the legacy source mobiledevice 1183 that is incapable of creating questionnaires without helpfrom the IVR component 1179 and the legacy recipient mobile device 1181that can be used by a recipient to respond to the questionnaires usingthe help of the IVR component 1179. The server 1167 makes the servicesof the IVR component 1179 available for any devices that need itsservices either to create questionnaires or to respond toquestionnaires. Although a legacy device is presumed to need theservices of the IVR component 1179, its services are made available tonew devices too that are incapable of either playing audio preambles orincapable of recording audio preambles. The results and activity loggingcomponent 1169 keeps track of the usage of the IVR component 1179, as italso keeps track of the creation and dissemination of questionnaires.

FIG. 12 is an exemplary main splash screen 1209 for a mobile device 1207that supports adhoc creation of questionnaires and browsing through aquestionnaire from the mobile device 1207. The main splash screen 1209provides a welcome message 1217, a textual preamble for thequestionnaire 1215 that informs a user on the behavior to anticipatewhen menu-items are selected. It also provides menu items such as aStart 1211, an Info 1225 and Create 1213 with associated softkeys. Asoft key is a button, located along a display device, which performswhatever function (Info, Create and Start menu item in this case) isshown near it on that display. The selectable menu items 1211, 1213 and1225 are activated by softkeys typically, and may be replaced by buttonson the keyboard (hardkeys) that provide similar behavior when activated.A typical mobile phone has a softkey located at left (LSK) 1273, right(RSK) 1275 and center (CSK) 1277. Depending on modality of application,various functions can be mapped on it, such as Information 1225, Start1212 and Create 1213. It will bring multiple function which is a pop-upexpanded menu from bottom. Soft key itself is usually not printed with afunctional icon or text but often marked with a dot or short bar.

The user can branch to recording adhoc questions by selecting Createfrom the menu items 1213, such as by activating the softkey 1277. Theuser can also branch to reviewing of a questionnaire or answering aquestionnaire by activating the Start entry from the menu items 1211,such as by activating the softkey 1275. Thus, this main screen supportsthe activation of adhoc questionnaire creation or the display of areceived questionnaire soliciting user response to the questions.

In one embodiment, the main splash screen 1209 does not display anyquestionnaire preamble 1215. In a related embodiment, the text 1215displayed in the main splash screen 1209 is a generic help text and thetextual preamble for the questionnaire is displayed when the userselects the Start menu item 1211 (for example, by activating the softkey1275) and the next screen is displayed.

FIG. 13 is an exemplary adhoc questionnaire recording screen that isdisplayed on a mobile device 1357 when the Create menu item is activatedfrom the screen described in FIG. 12. The Create functionality can beinvoked, for example, by means of a softkey associated with it. Inresponse, a screen that supports recording is displayed, which providesa Start and Stop recording feature, by means of a Start 1363 menuitem/softkey and a Stop 1361 menu item/softkey. The user can startrecording a question by activating Start menu item (or correspondinghard key/button, if any) 1363, then Stop the recording by activatingStop menu item (or button, if any) 1361. The user can also record theaudio input for more than one question, one question at a time.

FIG. 14 is an exemplary adhoc questionnaire recording screen 1479 thatis displayed when the user Stops recording the audio portions, such asan audio preamble, for a given question while creating a questionnaire,and the user is provided an opportunity to record a new/next question.When the user activates the Stop menu item 1361 in described in FIG. 13,the screen 1479 shown in FIG. 14 is displayed to the user. Thus, after aquestion has been recorded by a user, the menu item Stop 1361, whenactivated, changes to menu item/softkey Next 1471, to make it possibleto record another question by user. In addition, the menu item Start1363 changes into menu item Done 1473, to let the user terminate thequestionnaire creation, if necessary. An appropriate message 1481 isdisplayed to inform the user of the actions he can take. In oneembodiment, the user can re-record an audio preamble, replay the audiopreamble recorded, or delete the audio preamble recorded, withappropriate menu items/softkeys provided for those actions.

FIG. 15 is an exemplary recipient selection screen 1559 provided by amobile device 1557 wherein a user is prompted to select one or morerecipients that are to receive the questionnaire currently populated inthe previous screens. In general, a mobile device has a PIM or contactlist in the device that provides contact information such as phonenumbers and email addresses, etc. for people to whom the user of themobile device can make or call or send information to. The presentinvention makes it possible to retrieve contact information forrecipients of adhoc questionnaires (created in the mobile device) fromPIMs, contact lists, etc.

In general, the user can select recipients on this recipient selectionscreen 1559 if the user has entered at least one question and hasselected Done in a previous screen (described in FIG. 14). Afterscrolling to one of the recipients on the recipient list 1565 displayed,the user chooses a Select menu item 1563 (or a button if one ispresented). Additional recipients from the list can be selected. Whenall required recipients have been selected from the list, the Done menuitem 1561 (or a Done button if one is presented) needs to be activatedto terminate the process and send the questionnaire. In one embodiment,the menu item Done 1561 is renamed as Send.

In general, the recipient entries in the recipient list 1565 can be alist of names representing valid users, a list of phone numbers, a listof mailing addresses, or a list of references to subscribers of aservice. It can also comprise of a mailing list entry (a name orreference to a collection of email address or phone numbers). In oneembodiment, the recipient list 1565 is a list of names with associatedphone numbers (not shown on the screen as part of the list). The mobiledevice 1557 is capable of determining the phone numbers for the namesselected by a user, the phone numbers subsequently communicated to theserver as the recipient list. In another embodiment, mobile device 1557is capable of determining the IP addresses (IPv4 or IPv6 addresses) forthe names selected by a user, the IP addresses subsequently communicatedto the server as the recipient list. In a different embodiment, themobile device 1557 is capable of communicating the list of namesselected by a user to the server as the recipient list, the server beingcapable of using them to determine the appropriate phone numbers for therecipients or appropriate IP address to communicate with the recipientdevices. Other ways of communicating recipient lists are alsocontemplated.

In one embodiment, a preconfigured recipient list (with a unique name ofits own) is also listed in the recipient list 1565. If the user selectsthis preconfigured recipient list, the mobile device 1557 will expandthe preconfigured recipient list into appropriate phone numbers or IPaddresses and send it to the server. Alternatively, the server expandsthe preconfigured recipient list into the actual phone numbers for theassociated users or the actual IP address (or any other relevant mappingas needed).

In one embodiment, the server maintains a default mailing list for auser, to be used as a list of recipients when the user of the mobiledevice does not explicitly select any name or phone number from therecipient list 1565 before sending the adhoc questionnaire by activatingthe Done menu item 1561 or by other means.

FIG. 16 is a perspective block diagram of a network wherein a sourcemobile device 1611 comprises a client plugin 1631 for a browser 1632that makes it possible to create questionnaires in the source mobiledevice 1611, and wherein the recipient mobile device 1623 comprises aclient plugin 1625 for a browser 1627 that makes it possible to browsethrough questionnaires in the recipient mobile device 1623. The clientplugin 1631 in the source mobile device 1611 receives incomingquestionnaires from the browser and helps the user review them on thebrowser, answer the questions and provide results back to the server,listen to audio preambles of a questionnaire, the audio preambles of aquestion, audio supplementary information, etc. The browser 1632receives questionnaires from a server 1617 and communicates them to theclient plugin 1631 for processing. Similarly, the client plugin 1631makes it possible for the user of the source mobile device 1611 tocreate new questionnaires using the browser as the conduit, the newquestionnaires comprising of textual information and/or audioinformation (such as audio preambles of a question). For example, theuser of the source mobile device 1611 activates a specific web pagehosted by the server 1617 that provides a dialog box capable of invokingthe functionality of the client plugin 1631, such as the functionalityof recording a question preamble and functionality of creating aquestion that is provided by the client plugin 1631.

The use of the recipient mobile device 1623 to walk through (say, bymeans of browsing using a browser) the questions of a questionnaire isfacilitated by the client plugin 1625 that works in conjunction with thebrowser 1627. In a related embodiment, the client plugin 1625 is capableof being used as a standalone application as well as a plugin for thebrowser 1627.

An optional billing system 1623 and an optional results and activitylogging component 1619 makes it possible to bill a user for creation ofquestionnaires and the distribution of questionnaires, as well as thetracking of questionnaire creation, dissemination and responsesgenerated.

In one embodiment, the client plugin 1631 is incorporated into thebrowser 1632 and the browser 1632 is capable of facilitating thecreation of questionnaires or portions of a questionnaire in the mobiledevice 1611. Similarly, the client plugin 1625 is incorporated into thebrowser 1625 and the browser 1625 is capable of facilitating thebrowsing of questionnaires or portions of a questionnaire by the user ofthe recipient mobile device 1623.

Interaction between the source mobile device 1611 and a recipient mobiledevice 1623 are facilitated by the server 1617 wherein the source mobile1611 creates an ad-hoc questionnaire that the server 1617 enhances byincorporating generic preambles and multiple-choice portions to thequestions in the questionnaires and forwards it to the recipient mobiledevice 1623. The mobile devices 1611 and 1623 comprise the plugin client1631, 1625 respectively that works with browsers 1632, 1627,respectively, to facilitate creation of questionnaires and browsingthrough any questionnaires received. The user of the source mobiledevice 1611 initially sends audio portions of questions and a list ofrecipients to the server 1617. The server 1617 then forwards the audioportion(s) to a questionnaire creation component 1607 to get thequestionnaire populated and generic textual content and generic multiplechoices (canned choices) inserted for the questions in thequestionnaire. The server 1617 receives the updated questionnaire fromthe questionnaire creation component 1607 and stores it if needed(temporarily or permanently). The server 1617 disseminates the storedquestionnaire to one or more recipient devices, such as the recipientmobile device 1623. Such dissemination can occur based on a schedule,based on availability of the recipient mobile device 1623, based oninitiation of delivery by a source mobile device 1611, based onpolicies, etc.

FIG. 17 is a perspective block diagram of a mobile device 1711 that iscapable of creating questionnaires with audio preambles that areuploaded to a server, the mobile device also being capable of receivingquestionnaires and facilitating the perusing of the downloadedquestionnaire by a user. The mobile device 1711 comprises a recordingcircuitry 1715, a player circuitry 1717, a communication circuitry 1723,a processing circuitry 1721, and storage 1725. The mobile device alsocomprises a client component 1713 that employs the recording circuitry1715 to record audio preambles for questionnaires when the user iscreating a questionnaire, and player circuitry 1717 to play audiopreambles, audio supplementary information, etc. in questionnaires whilethe user is responding to questionnaires received. The mobile device1711 is communicatively coupled to a remote server using thecommunication circuitry 1723.

The recording circuitry 1715 facilitates the recording of an audioportion of a questionnaire when activated. For example, when the client1713 is configured to create new questionnaires in the mobile device1711, it employs the recording circuitry 1715 to record preambles forthe individual questions, preamble for the questionnaire itself, andsupplementary information for questions and the questionnaire.Questionnaires created by the client 1713 are communicated to a server(when the questionnaire is ready and user initiates an upload) alongwith a recipient list that is stored in the storage associated with theserver. The client 1713 can also be configured to receive questionnairesfrom the server for deferred display to a user. In addition, the client1713 can support a user completing a questionnaire over multiplesessions, i.e. partially completing the questionnaire in any onesession, with the ability to reopen a partially completed questionnairefor further browsing and completion.

The client 1713, employing the processing circuitry 1721, facilitatesthe communication, of questionnaires created or responses toquestionnaires received and reviewed by a user, using the communicationcircuitry 1723. The questionnaires created are communicated to theserver for forwarding the questionnaire to users associated with therecipient list provided by the user of the mobile device 1711 from thestorage 1725 of the mobile device 1711 (or from a contact list of PIM inthe mobile device 1711).

The client 1713 comprises a questionnaire perusing component 1719 thatmakes it possible for a user to peruse all the questions of aquestionnaire, one question at a time, with support for playing audiopreambles, if needed, and displaying supplementary text information orplaying supplementary audio information, when requested by user.

In one embodiment, the recording circuitry 1715 is capable of recordingnot only audio in MP3, WMA, AMR formats but also video information too,such as in DVD, HDDVD, MPEG2, MPEG 4 formats. The player circuitry 1717is capable of playing audio information (audio preambles provided inMP3, WMA, AMR and other formats) but also video content associated withthe preamble of a question of a questionnaire. In a related embodiment,the player circuitry 1717 is capable of playing streaming audio andstreaming video content provided to the user as preamble or assupplementary information for a question (or for the questionnaireitself).

FIG. 18 is a flow chart of an exemplary operation of a mobile devicebuilt in accordance with the present invention as the mobile device isused by a user to create an adhoc questionnaire. At an initial block1807, the client (such as QClient for questionnaires) is started in themobile device and the client receives a activation/command to create anew adhoc questionnaire from the user. Then, at a next block 1809, themobile device prompts the user to start recording audio preamble for aquestion (such as a first question). The user can start recording, byspeaking into the general area of the microphone of the mobile device,very much like he would do in talking during a mobile phone call. Thepreamble for a question typically comprises details of the question,often with details of the choices of answers the user can select for thequestion too. This would make the preamble useful for adhocquestionnaires where both the question and the corresponding choices (ofresponses anticipated) are provided in audio form (by speaking into themobile device while it is recording) by the user.

Then, at a next block 1811, at the end of recording of the preamble forthe current question, the user has the option to record supplementaryinformation or audio preambles for more questions. The mobile deviceprompts the user for next question. Then, at a next decision block 1813,an attempt is made to determine if the user wants to provide inputs foranother question or if the user is done with the questionnaire. If it isdetermined that the user is not done and intends to create additionalquestions, then at the next block 1809, the mobile device prompts userto start recording audio preamble for the next question.

If, at the block 1813, it is determined that the user is done, then, ata next block 1815, the mobile device prompts the user for a list ofrecipients. The user can select one or more recipients from a list thatis displayed to the user. The list is retrieved from a storage, or froma PIM, contact list, etc. The user can also select a preconfigured list.The mobile device may optionally convert the list of recipients to alist of phone numbers or a list if IP addresses.

Then, at a next block 1817, the mobile device communicates the recipientlist and a partial questionnaire (with audio portions recorded and mostof the textual portions not created yet) to the server for completionand for subsequent distribution to recipients. Finally, at a next block1819 (presumably after the recipients have responded to thequestionnaire) the mobile device receives responses from the server,notifies the user of its availability, and displays it if the user sodesires.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing exemplary behavior of the server inaccordance with the present invention as the server supports adhoccreation of a questionnaire using a mobile device. At an initial block1905, processing starts, and at the next block 1907, the server receivesa partial questionnaire from the user of the source mobile device alongwith a recipient list. Then, at a next block 1909, the server processesthe partial questionnaire and determines what is missing. Typically, foran adhoc questionnaire, a audio preamble for one or more questions isprovided by the source mobile device and textual preambles,multiple-choice text, etc. may be missing.

Then, at a next block 1911, the server incorporates the missingportions, such as textual preamble and multiple choices. For example,the server inserts generic multiple choice text for the questions andgeneric textual preambles (or prompts) for the questions that don't haveany. In addition, the server selectively adds a textual questionnairepreamble. It also inserts an audio questionnaire preamble, if one isavailable as a boilerplate questionnaire preamble (perhaps created bythe user apriori). The server might even add generic supplementaryinformation for the questionnaire and for the questions too, if theserver is configured to do so. In one embodiment, the user provides aprerecorded music (such as a prerecorded jingle, a tune, a section of asong, etc.) as a boilerplate questionnaire preamble.

Later, at a next decision block 1913, the server determines if thequestionnaire cannot be sent to the recipients provided by the sourcemobile device or recipient preconfigured into the server. If the serverdetermines that the questionnaire cannot be sent, then at a next block1921, it stores the questionnaire, logs information on the event, andsubsequently terminates processing at the next end block 1923. It alsooptionally sends a notification to the user on the source mobile devicethat the questionnaire cannot be sent, requesting the user to access theserver and optionally fix a problem.

If at a next decision block 1913, the server determines if thequestionnaire can be sent to the recipients provided by the sourcemobile device or recipient preconfigured into the server, then at a nextblock 1915, the server notifies recipients from the recipient listregarding the availability of the questionnaire. For example, it sendsan SMS message to the recipient/user over the recipient mobile deviceindicating the availability of the questionnaire. For example, it mightalso use the client (such as the questionnaire client) in the recipientmobile device to communicate a message regarding the availability of thequestionnaire to the recipient. Other forms of notification, such as bymeans of instant messaging and email are also contemplated. In oneembodiment, the notification sent to the recipient mobile device overSMS triggers the silent activation of the client software associatedwith the questionnaire for downloading and processing the questionnaire.

Then, at a next block 1917, the questionnaire is provided to therecipient mobile device when it requests the questionnaire from theserver. If more than one recipient is to be supported, then eachrecipient retrieves the questionnaire from the server, typically inresponse to a notification that is sent, or in response to a useraction. Then, at a next block 1919, the response provided by therecipient (actually, by all the recipients associated) over therecipient mobile device is received by the server and forwarded to thesource mobile device. The responses from several recipient mobiledevices are collated before it is sent to the source mobile device ifthe server is configured to do so. Otherwise, individual results fromeach user are forwarded to the source mobile device as they arereceived.

In one embodiment, at the block 1915, the server opens up a TCP/IPsocket connection (or some such connection) with the client in therecipient mobile device to not only communicate a notification messagebut also to deliver the questionnaire to the client in the device, thuscombining the processing of the blocks 1915 and 1917.

FIG. 20 is a perspective block diagram of a mobile device 2011 with abrowser 2029 and a client plugin 2013 that is capable of creatingquestionnaires with audio preambles that are uploaded to a server, themobile device also being capable of receiving questionnaires andfacilitating the perusing of the downloaded questionnaire by a user. Theclient plugin 2013 is able to employ the services of the browser forretrieving questionnaires (one question at a time if needed) deliveringpartial responses or complete responses, etc. The browser making itpossible to connect to a server capable of providing the questionnaire,either all at once, in sets of questions, or one question at a time.

The mobile device 2011 comprises a recording circuitry 2015, playercircuitry 2017, communication circuitry 2023, processing circuitry 2021,and storage 2025. The mobile device 2011 also comprises the clientplugin 2013 that employs the recording circuitry 2015 to record audiopreambles for questionnaires when the user is creating a questionnaire,and the player circuitry 2017 to play audio preambles, audiosupplementary information, etc. in questionnaires while the user isresponding to questionnaires received. The mobile device also comprisesthe browser 2029 with which the client plugin 2013 interacts.

The mobile device 2011 is communicatively coupled to a server using thecommunication circuitry 2023. For example, it uses the HTTP basedprotocol to connect to the server and retrieve questionnaires, sendresponses, receive notifications, etc.

The recording circuitry 2015 facilitates the recording of an audioportion of a questionnaire when activated. For example, when the client2013 plugin is configured to create new questionnaires in the mobiledevice 2011, it employs the recording circuitry 2015 to record preamblesfor the individual questions, preamble for the questionnaire itself, andsupplementary information for questions and the questionnaire.Questionnaires created by the client plugin 2013 are communicated to aserver (when the questionnaire is ready and user initiates an upload)via the browser 2029 along with a recipient list that is stored in thestorage associated with the server.

The processing circuitry 2021 facilitates the communication, ofquestionnaires created or responses to questionnaires received, usingthe communication circuitry 2023. The questionnaires created arecommunicated to the server for forwarding the questionnaire to usersassociated with the recipient list. The client plugin 2013 employs thebrowser 2029 to peruse through a questionnaire, thus making it possiblefor a user to peruse all the questions of a questionnaire, one questionat a time, with support for playing audio preambles, if needed, anddisplaying supplementary text information or playing supplementary audioinformation, when requested by user.

In one embodiment, the recording circuitry 2015 is capable of recordingnot only audio but video information too, such as in MPEG 4 formats. Theplayer circuitry 2017 is capable of playing audio information (audiopreambles) but also video content associated with the preamble of aquestion of a questionnaire. In a related embodiment, the playercircuitry 2017 is capable of playing streaming audio and streaming videocontent provided to the user as preamble or as supplementary informationfor a question (or for the questionnaire).

The terms “circuit” and “circuitry” as used herein may refer to anindependent circuit or to a portion of a multifunctional circuit thatperforms multiple underlying functions. For example, depending on theembodiment, processing circuitry may be implemented as a single chipprocessor or as a plurality of processing chips. Likewise, a firstcircuit and a second circuit may be combined in one embodiment into asingle circuit or, in another embodiment, operate independently perhapsin separate chips. The term “chip”, as used herein, refers to anintegrated circuit. Circuits and circuitry may comprise general orspecific purpose hardware, or may comprise such hardware and associatedsoftware such as firmware or object code.

The terms “audio preamble” and “voice preamble” as used herein may referto recorded voice inputs that a user records, to provide aquestion/prompt in human language, that also selectively incorporatesresponses in multiple choice format to aid selection by a recipient. Theaudio preamble may be captured by a mobile device in MP3 format, AMRformat, WMA format, etc.

The term “audio-assisted questionnaire” as used herein may refer to aquestionnaire comprising audio portions, such as audio preambles, audiosupplementary information, audio descriptions of multiple choices, etc.that make it possible for a recipient to listen to most of theinformation of the questions in a questionnaire (employing human voices,in audible form) without having to read all of that in a small screen ofa mobile device, without requiring scrolling through textualdescriptions on a limited/constrained device.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, the terms “operablycoupled” and “communicatively coupled,” as may be used herein, includedirect coupling and indirect coupling via another component, element,circuit, or module where, for indirect coupling, the interveningcomponent, element, circuit, or module does not modify the informationof a signal but may adjust its current level, voltage level, and/orpower level. As one of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate,inferred coupling (i.e., where one element is coupled to another elementby inference) includes direct and indirect coupling between two elementsin the same manner as “operably coupled” and “communicatively coupled.”

The present invention has also been described above with the aid ofmethod steps illustrating the performance of specified functions andrelationships thereof. The boundaries and sequence of these functionalbuilding blocks and method steps have been arbitrarily defined hereinfor convenience of description. Alternate boundaries and sequences canbe defined so long as the specified functions and relationships areappropriately performed. Any such alternate boundaries or sequences arethus within the scope and spirit of the claimed invention.

The present invention has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the performance of certainsignificant functions. The boundaries of these functional buildingblocks have been arbitrarily defined for convenience of description.Alternate boundaries could be defined as long as the certain significantfunctions are appropriately performed. Similarly, flow diagram blocksmay also have been arbitrarily defined herein to illustrate certainsignificant functionality. To the extent used, the flow diagram blockboundaries and sequence could have been defined otherwise and stillperform the certain significant functionality. Such alternatedefinitions of both functional building blocks and flow diagram blocksand sequences are thus within the scope and spirit of the claimedinvention.

One of average skill in the art will also recognize that the functionalbuilding blocks, and other illustrative blocks, modules and componentsherein, can be implemented as illustrated or by discrete components,application specific integrated circuits, processors executingappropriate software and the like or any combination thereof.

Moreover, although described in detail for purposes of clarity andunderstanding by way of the aforementioned embodiments, the presentinvention is not limited to such embodiments. It will be obvious to oneof average skill in the art that various changes and modifications maybe practiced within the spirit and scope of the invention, as limitedonly by the scope of the appended claims.

1. A method performed by a system, the method comprising: creating aquestionnaire; modifying the questionnaire optionally, creating amodified questionnaire, using one or more of a boilerplate text,boilerplate audio information, multiple choice selections and video;distributing the modified questionnaire to at least one of a pluralityof mobile devices communicatively coupled to the system; receiving auser response from the at least one of a plurality of mobile devices;and providing a report with the collated user responses or sending theuser responses to an entity associated with the questionnaire.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, the creating comprising: recording at least one of anaudio input and a video input on a mobile device and communicating it tothe system to be distributed as part of the questionnaire.
 3. The methodof claim 1, the method further comprising: employing a list ofrecipients wherein the at least one of a plurality of mobile devicescorresponds to the list of recipients.
 4. The method of claim 3 whereinthe list of recipients for the questionnaire are specified by pickingone or more recipients from a contact list, by identifying apre-configured mailing list that provides an identification or areference to the recipients, or by identifying a preconfigured list ofphone numbers.
 5. The method of claim 1, the distributing comprising:disseminating the questionnaire based on at least one of the following:a schedule, requests for the questionnaire, user actions, userpreferences, subscriptions to a service, availability of the recipientmobile devices, initiation of distribution by a sending entity andpolicies.
 6. The method of claim 1, the distributing comprising:communicating the questionnaire individually to the at least one of aplurality of mobile devices in segments of one or more questions at atime and receiving partial user responses from them before communicatinga next segment of the questionnaire.
 7. The method of claim 1, thefurther comprising: charging for distribution of the questionnaire tothe at least one of a plurality of mobile devices employing a flat rate,or charging based on the number of mobile devices or users to whom thequestionnaire is distributed.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein thequestionnaire is an audio-assisted questionnaire, wherein parts of thequestionnaire is presented to recipients on their respective ones of theplurality of mobile devices in audio form or in video form so as tominimize the amount of text the recipient has to read, and wherein theuser response from each of the at least one of a plurality of mobiledevices is at least partly in an audio form, in a digital image form, ina video form or a combination of these three forms.
 9. The method ofclaim 1 wherein modifying comprises: customizing an audio preamble and atextual preamble for the questionnaire and for each question in aquestionnaire.
 10. The method of claim 1, the further comprising:facilitating deleting questionnaires, surveys, after they have beendisseminated, deleting them after a period of usage associated with thequestionnaires and surveys has expired, creating list of recipients forspecific questionnaires, surveys, assigning user groups to specificquestionnaires, surveys and distributing the specific questionnaires,surveys to those user groups, and managing a life cycle associated witheach of the questionnaires, surveys.
 11. A system for interaction, thesystem comprising: a first device communicatively coupled to a pluralityof devices, wherein the first device and each of the plurality ofdevices comprise a client application that facilitates interaction; theclient application in the first device recording a message comprisingone or more of a first audio message, a first digital image or a firstvideo and communicating the message to the plurality of devices; theclient application in each of the plurality of devices receiving themessage and capturing a corresponding user response that it subsequentlycommunicates to the client application in the first device; and theclient application in the first device receiving and facilitating thedisplay of user responses from each of the plurality of devices.
 12. Thesystem for interaction of claim 11 wherein the client application in thefirst device receives the user responses individually from each of theplurality of devices or receives it as a set in a collated form.
 13. Thesystem for interaction of claim 11 wherein the client application in thefirst device communicates a notification informing a corresponding userof each of the plurality of devices about the availability of themessage.
 14. The system for interaction of claim 11 further comprising:the client application in the first device activates recording by auser, when triggered by the user, and facilitates the capture of one ormore of the first audio message, the first digital image or the firstvideo; and the client application in the first device facilitates thesubsequent selection of a list of recipients by the user, and thecommunication of the message to those of the plurality of devices thatcorrespond to the list of recipients.
 15. A system for questionnaires,the system comprising: a server that receives an adhoc questionnairefrom a first device and distributes it to one or more of a plurality ofdevices, wherein the server is communicatively coupled to the firstdevice and to the plurality of devices; an interaction client in thefirst device and in the plurality of devices that facilitatesinteractions employing adhoc questionnaires; the interaction client inthe first device facilitating the recording of an audio message, a videomessage, an image, or a text as part of a question in a firstquestionnaire; the interaction client in the first device communicatingthe first questionnaire to the server for disseminating it to at leastone of the plurality of devices; and the interaction client in the firstdevice receiving a response set from the server, wherein the responseset comprises user responses to the first questionnaire from the atleast one of the plurality of devices, wherein each of the userresponses comprise at least one of an audio response, a video response,an image response, and a text response.
 16. The system of claim 15further comprising: the server determining the at least one of theplurality of devices as recipients for dissemination of the firstquestionnaire based on a list of recipients provided by the firstdevice, based on a pre-configured target list, based on policies, orbased on an adhoc list of friends and family members identified by auser of the first device.
 17. The system of claim 15 further comprising:a billing system to selectively charge, based on policies andpreferences, for creation of the first questionnaire, for disseminationof the first questionnaire, for collecting user responses to the firstquestionnaire and for reporting the user responses; and the serveremploying the billing system to selectively charge for variousactivities based on policies.
 18. The system of claim 15 furthercomprising: identifying and facilitating interactions amongpre-configured list of friends and family members, wherein each of thefriends or family members employ a corresponding one of the plurality ofdevices.
 19. The system of claim 15 further comprising: the interactionclient in each of the plurality of devices receiving a firstquestionnaire, if it is communicated to it, and presenting it to a user;and the interaction client in each of the plurality of devicescollecting a user response to the first questionnaire and communicatingit to the first device.
 20. The system of claim 19 wherein the userresponse to the first questionnaire comprises at least one of an audioresponse, a video response, an image response, and a text response.